Among eukaryotes, sexual reproduction is by far the most predominant mode of reproduction. However, some systems maintaining sexuality appear particularly labile and raise intriguing questions on the evolutionary routes to asexuality. Thelytokous parthenogenesis is a form of spontaneous loss of sexuality leading to strong distortion of sex ratio towards females and resulting from mutation, hybridization or infection by bacteri...

Most invasive species established in E urope originate from either A sia or N orth A merica, but little is currently known about the potential of the A natolian P eninsula ( A sia M inor) and/or the N ear E ast to constitute invasion sources. Mediterranean forests are generally fragile ecosystems that can be threatened by invasive organisms coming from different regions of the M editerranean B asin, but for which historical da...

Biological invasions usually start with a small number of founder individuals. These founders are likely to represent a small fraction of the total genetic diversity found in the source population. Our study set out to trace genetically the geographical origin of the horse‐chestnut leafminer, Cameraria ohridella , an invasive microlepidopteran whose area of origin is still unkown. Since its discovery in Macedonia 25 years ago,...

Phylogeographic structure of the eastern pine processionary moth Thaumetopoea wilkinsoni was explored in this study by means of nested clade phylogeographic analyses of COI and COII sequences of mitochondrial DNA and Bayesian estimates of divergence times. Intraspecific relationships were inferred and hypotheses tested to understand historical spread patterns and spatial distribution of genetic variation. Analyses revealed tha...